Past and present — Cayuse Prairie School marks 125 years of learning
The original Cayuse Prairie one-room schoolhouse pictured in 1903. Students are from left to right, front row, Laura Byrne, Mary Combs, Jim Harben, Letha Ely, Anna Zimmerman, Dora Byrne, Barbara Zimmerman, Earl Weaver and teacher Mamie Callahan. Pictured in the back row: John Byrne, Otto Fehlberg, Valentine Zimmerman, Henry Weaver, Ray Wilson, William Hanson, Alva Olsen, Martha Harben, Olga Olson, Mary Harbin.
A Cayuse Prairie School"souvenir" from 1907 lists the names of advanced, intermediate and primary pupils taught by teacher Isaac Minear. The president of the school board was Henry Weaver. The souvenir cover reads, "The school is out — a little draught. We've drunk at Wisdom's Spring. May deeper draught & by us be quaffed. And may we to her cling."
Once its own district, Cayuse Prairie moved into this 1903 school building, which is still in use today and houses the main office and administrative office. This photo was taken in th 1960s. (Photo provided by Cayuse Prairie School)
Cayuse Prairie School students gather for a group photo in this photo that was thought to have been taken around 1934. (Photo provided by Cayuse Prairie School)
The 1954 Cayuse Prairie ball team. Whether baseball or softball, ball was a popular sports activity.(Photo provided by Cayuse Prairie School)
This 1938 photo is of teacher Nellie Redlingshafter's seventh- and eighth-grade Songophone Band conducted by student Bill Byrne (who later donated the photo to the school). Popular in the early 1900s, the Songophone was a brand of an easy-to-play brass instrument with a bell-shaped horn. A person would hum into the mouthpiece to amplify their voice and could produce music similar to the cornet, according to brasspedia.com. The site notes the Songophone as nearly identical to its predecessor and competitor — the kazoo-like Zobo. (Photo provided by Cayuse Prairie School).
A 1954 class photo of Cayuse Prairie's upper grades. (Photo provided by Cayuse Prairie School)
A class photo of Cayuse Prairie School fifth- and sixth-graders and teacher Mrs. Cornell taken during the 1968-69 school year. (Photo provided by Cayuse Prairie School)
Four-H students ride a float in a parade down Main Street in Kalispell around 1959. Four-H remains a big activity in the Cayuse Prairie community. (Photo provided)
The 1978 Cayuse Prairie School girl's basketball team.
Former Cayuse Prairie School student Lois (Snell) Hook and former school clerk Linda Benson look at a "Cayuse Prairie Favorite Fixins" recipe book produced by the P&F Club. (Hilary Matheson/Daily Inter Lake)
Current Cayuse Prairie School Principal Amy Piazzola and former principal Mr. Babcock at the school's 125th anniversary celebration. (Photo by Jody Harp)
The first one-room schoolhouse for Cayuse Prairie School District was a log cabin. In 1904, the log cabin was sold to a man named Clark Smith for $10, according to a booklet on the school’s history....
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